A chorus of Christmas music

They say it takes a village to raise a child but at Doddington Hall it takes the estate ‘village’ to raise their annual Christmas installation. Caroline Bingham visited just before ‘A Christmas Chorus’ opened its doors to the public.

We all have music which is so evocative of the festive season and there are sure to be songs and tunes which wrap visitors in Christmas warmth and nostalgia. Twelve locations throughout the Hall are decorated; most have theme music, if not their own soundscape, chosen from carols, contemporary classics and children’s favourites. You will be sure to hum, if not sing, your way around.

Frosty feel
Displays have been created by in-house teams and local creatives but all have the same aim of working with natural resources gathered from the estate and combining those with the talents of staff, volunteers and designers, to add that magic which is unique to Doddington at Christmas.

Angus Forbes is the creative lead for the display while Hannah Richards takes charge of the operational aspects each year. Work began in February with a brainstorming session to agree a theme and responsibility for each room.

“We may choose an overall theme but it is remarkable how individual designers and teams take different directions as their ideas evolve,” said Angus. “Visitors will see a common thread throughout the presentations this year. Rachel Petheram of Catkin Flowers chose to flock the estate-cut Christmas trees for her room and this idea has been adopted nearly throughout. It has given a very frosty, outdoor effect to the whole building as you walk through the Hall.”

Rachel has chosen ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ as the theme for the Great Hall, which features frosted firs and birch trees as well as a wintery runner down the centre of the dining table and blanketed snowdrifts across the floors.

Also on the ground floor is the Access Room, located in the Brown Parlour, and the Library which this year has been filled with the creations of Lou Jones and Nadya Monfrinoli of Lumo Workshop. ‘It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas’ features a gingerbread house which appears good enough to eat. Not advisable though, as it is fabricated entirely from cardboard but there are plenty of photo opportunities for visitors to sit on the bench and take selfies against the backdrop of candy canes and sweets, as ginger and cinnamon scents of Christmas fill the air.

“This is our third year contributing to Christmas at Doddington and we really feel that our ideas have grown as we have come to understand the Hall and its amazing rooms,” said Lou. “We have also decorated the stairs and first floor landing with ‘White Christmas’. A huge thank you to the volunteers who created the white paper decorations at one of their workshops.”

Cloud formations
The outdoor feel is further enhanced by the beautiful cloud formations which are suspended in the second floor Drawing Room. Rachel has taken dried hydrangea heads (2024 was a stunning year for the pink-flowered hydrangeas which grow at the front of the Hall) and formed them into fluffy, cumulus clouds. The theme is ‘Let it Snow’ and delicate allium heads recreate falling snowflakes as visitors wander through an immersive winter walk.

Also on the second floor is the Tiger Bedroom, which this year was the responsibility of Kitchen Gardener Ellie Marrian and the gardening team. Their chosen song was ‘When Santa Got Stuck Up the Chimney’ as this room features a magnificent fireplace and mantelpiece.

“I just felt that the scale of the fireplace could take a striking garland,” said Ellie, “so I have created an L-shaped piece to trail along the top and down the right-hand side.”

The beautiful garland of natural foliage Ellie has built includes dried honesty, hydrangea heads and globe thistle with pops of colour from white and orange Helichrysum – strawflowers.

She has also made some attendant elves using upturned plant pots and painted dowelling – and of course there are treats for Rudolph for Santa to collect if he ever becomes unstuck!

James Richards of House of Props has taken inspiration from the imagery depicted in the late 17th-century Flemish tapestries of the Holly Bedroom and the lyric ‘all is calm, all is bright’ from ‘Silent Night’ for a peaceful night-time scene. The star of Bethlehem shines bright over the room, accompanied by stars and woodland vases made from natural materials. 

James and Pippa Chapman make a formidable team as James builds Pippa’s imagined concepts and brings them to life. This year this includes the ‘Rocking Around the Christmas Tree’ wooden spiral piano and keyboard, which is located on the first floor landing, and ‘We Three Kings’, which is located on the second floor in the Tent Room.

“My idea for the spiralling piano was to create a wooden Christmas tree with the wobbler musical instrument characters as the decorations. James is so talented at turning these ideas into structural reality,” commented Pippa.

Pippa has also transformed the Holly Bathroom into a ‘Mistletoe and Wine’ date-night retreat. The bubbles and bubbly are flowing and a box of chocolates lies open to further tempt the bather.

On the second floor stairs and landing, Ruth Pigott of Curiosity Creators has taken the theme of ‘Hark the Herald Angels Sing’ to fill the space with a contemporary style of paper angels with flocked trees, which leads the way beautifully to the Long Gallery where Howell Thomas and students from Lincoln College have interpreted ‘Walking in the Air’ to guide visitors though a cloudscape with a large crescent moon. The illusion will be a feeling of physically walking in the air.

James has also built a silhouette interpretation of ‘We Three Kings’ in the Tent Room, which is backlit to give a rich ‘desert’ landscape to the trio as they travel towards Bethlehem. Angus explained that he had always wanted to have a shadow installation and has sourced an orchestral arrangement of the carol which perfectly evokes the middle eastern atmosphere.

As well as these main rooms, there is a wonderfully detailed knitted Nativity scene interpretation of ‘Away in a Manger’ by Gill Hall and the volunteers in the Tiger Dressing Room and ‘The Holly and the Ivy’ arrangements by Ellie on the bannisters. The ultimate photo opportunity is located at the front of the Hall, where Santa is ‘Driving Home for Christmas’ on his sleigh pulled by unicorns. Visitors can climb on board and capture this part of their own Christmas ‘journey’ posing alongside.

“The most difficult aspect of preparing ‘A Christmas Chorus’ has been the logistics of closing the Hall for the very short timescale we have to complete the decoration,” Angus explained. “We opened a week earlier this year to give visitors a greater chance to pick their time slot and walk around at their leisure.

There will also be slightly later opening times, which means the experience can be enjoyed in twinkling twilight at the end of the afternoon. We hope visitors thoroughly enjoy what is quite a different feel to Doddington Hall this Christmas.”

Hall open on selected dates until 23rd December. Booking essential: www.doddingtonhall.com/christmas

Photographs: Instinctive Photography and Doddington Hall

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